S.Prokofiev - Sonata for Flute and Piano Op.94 - 1st. Movement

Title: After clean-up, slight return.

Concept by Cao Thanh Lan and Gregor Siedl

Audio piece/sound walk, duration: 13’03

Mai Dich is a fast-changing neighbourhood and has, unlike many other neighbourhoods in Hanoi, an unusual high concentration of artists from different genres – ranging from traditional music to military music, from folk art to stage drama to circus.

It is where Cao Thanh Lan grew up, so some sounds in this composition are also the sounds of her childhood memory, seen or re-listened from a different perspective and put in a different context. Complimentary to Lan’s approach, Gregor Siedl sees Mai Dich with different eyes and ears. He sees and hears many things that are usually ignored or taken for granted.

Mai Dich used to be a green suburb of Hanoi, where paddle fields and flower fields and lots of trees were rampant. With the rapid urbanization, sounds of birds, insects and trees are gone or submerged by traffic noise.

With the “clean-up” organized by state-run institutes located in the neighborhood, many street-shops and street-hairdressers had to disappear, some of them have spent 20 or even 30 years of their life in these corners.

This sound piece is a lively non-narrative collage where the listeners experience the long forgotten sound of nature like cicadas, frogs, etc., the close-up sounds from the daily activities of the two protagonists - a street hair-dresser and a street innkeeper - sounds of people practicing and performing “tuồng”, “nhạc đỏ”, “xiếc”,  “chèo”, etc. and sporadically the usual traffic noise.

What you see along the walk is „the After Clean-up“ and what you hear is „the slight Return“.

About INTO THIN AIR

“Into Thin Air” is a long term art‐in‐public project initiated and curated by Manzi Art Space with a view to building awareness and appreciation for art, particularly contemporary arts among the public, to helping artists develop their independent practices whilst encouraging their involvements in social development within the current context of Vietnam.

The project attracted more than 20,000 visitors from different backgrounds, young students, normal housewives, intellectuals, workers and artists of Hanoi.

A Facebook Fan page for Into Thin Air was created and reached 2,500 likes within 10 days of the project. Each post of the page reached 2,000 to 4,000 Facebook users.

After Clean - Up, Slight Return - a sound walk for "Into Thin Air" project

Co-composition by composer-performer duo Siedl/Cao from Vienna
For deer call, water, analogue synthesizer and sample (2017)
Performed and recorded at Die Zentrale Vienna 2017

"Parallel Asteroid" No. 2 - by Duo Siedl/Cao

Duo Siedl/Cao is a composer-performer ensemble that ranges in the field between composition, improvisation, performance and live sound-installation.

In their recent works they explore electro-acoustic sound as means of expression and reflect on performative aspects of a live concert situation.

Duo Siedl/Cao is one of the 5 groups from Austria that are selected for the renowned program New Austrian Sound of Music 2018-2019 in the category Contemporary Music. Their recent music theatre “The fifth cardinal direction” has been selected to be presented at Operadagen Rotterdam on the 24. May 2018 and at Musiktheatertagen Vienna on the 16. June 2018

Duo works of Cao Thanh Lan and Gregor Siedl have been featured at international festivals and concert venues around the world, amongst others – Festival „Krieg singen“ im Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin, Opera Hanoi, FIME – Festival Intern. de Musica Experimental Sao Paulo, Festival Ankunft Neue Musik Berlin, Strom Festival Köln, FTARRI Tokyo, NOMART Osaka, Frischzelle Festival für Intermediale Performance, WIM Zürich, Porgy & Bess Wien, Sappho Taipei, CHELA Buenos Aires, Institut Francais, Monash University Melbourne, BoxHill Institute Melbourne, Universidad de Valparaiso.

They have been touring in Europe, Japan, Brazil, China, Taiwan, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Finland, Vietnam, Australia and Indonesia.

Duo Siedl/Cao gives workshops on composition and improvisation. Past teaching activities: Monash University Melbourne, BoxHill Institute Melbourne, National University of Hsinchu Taiwan, Äänen Lumo Helsinki, Universidad de La Serena, Universidad de Montevideo, Meridian Space Beijing, DOMDOM Center for experimental music Hanoi.

For their projects and cooperations, they have received grants from – Bundeskanzleramt für Kunst und Kultur, Österreichisches Kulturforum Tokyo, Kulturamt Niederösterreich, Österreichische Botschaft Hanoi, Institut Francais, ON-Neue Musik Köln, Ministerium für Kultur in Nordrhein-Westfalen (MFKJKS-NRW), Rhein-Energie Stiftung.

After Clean - Up, Slight Return - a sound walk for "Into Thin Air" project

Duo Siedl/Cao

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